Author to sign books, give book talk in Canton

Saturday

May 29, 2010 at 12:01 AMMay 29, 2010 at 12:44 AM

Shilpi Somaya Gowda, author of a novel entitled "Secret Daughter," will give a book talk and sign copies her book at Parlin-Ingersoll Library in Canton at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 13. The library invites the public to stop by to meet Gowda and discuss the book with her.

LINDA WOODS Executive Editor

Shilpi Somaya Gowda, author of a novel entitled "Secret Daughter," will give a book talk and sign copies her book at Parlin-Ingersoll Library in Canton at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 13. The library invites the public to stop by to meet Gowda and discuss the book with her.
The author is the wife of Canton native Anand Gowda, who is the son of Dr. Ram and Mrs. Connie Gowda.
The novel tells the fictional story of two worlds, two mothers, and the beloved daughter who indelibly binds them.
"I have always loved reading novels and thought about writing one - someday," says Gowda, who says she is already embarking on her next book.
When she and Anand moved to Dallas, Texas, in 2006, she felt it was an opportune time to try something new - professionally. She enrolled in creative writing classes at the university and says she, "put together the building blocks for writing this novel."
The writing process took Gowda about two years including writing and revisions.
Gowda then signed with a literary agent in New York who sold the novel to her publisher William Morrow (an imprint of Harper-Collins Publishers).
"Part of the inspiration for the story came from the summer I spent volunteering at an orphanage in India in 1991. I was enrolled in college at the time," says Gowda, who further explains the time at the orphanage also prompted her to write a college essay on her experiences.
"I think one of the overriding messages in the book is that we are all more similar than we are different. The happenings in these families such as the search for identity, marital tension, independence of a child, bridging cultural differences, and maternal love, are universal," says Gowda.
New York Times Bestselling author Mary Jane Clark says this of Gowda's work: "It's moving and thought-provoking and informative and imaginative and beautifully executed. What a wonderful story."
Dr. Gowda says he looked at Shilpi's work in many ways after seeing the first draft and then final revisions. "I looked at the book as a physician and also at the cultural relationships of the characters." Gowda says he found the research aspect of the book very important to the story for giving the reader a feel for how the living conditions and family cultures affect the mother from India. He emphasizes how the words relate the strong emotions of the characters and how the strong feelings hamper the American mother from letting her adopted daughter explore her roots. He calls this a story of relationships. "I strongly urge those who have been adopted to read this book."
The book lends itself to short-term reading sessions because each section describes scenarios from the lives of the characters.
Copyrighted in 2010, the story takes place in 1984 in Dahanu, India. The book is available online from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, and other selected bookstores.
Shilpi Gowda was born and raised in Toronto, Canada. Her parents migrated to Canada from Mumbai. She has also lived in New York, North Carolina, and Texas.
Gowda, her husband Anand, and their two daughters, Mira and Bela, reside in San Diego, Calif.
Gowda holds an MBA from Stanford University and a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

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